{"id":394007,"date":"2026-07-10T22:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394007\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T22:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T22:43:13","slug":"long-beach-city-manager-receives-new-two-year-contract-herald-community-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394007\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach city manager receives new two-year contract | Herald Community Newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the City of Long Beach were a company, the city manager would be its CEO \u2014 responsible for the daily administrative tasks, playing an influential role in negotiations with outside parties and presenting proposals to be considered by the \u201cboard of directors\u201d \u2014 the City Council<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Long Beach has had seven city managers over the past 10 years. Four held the position temporarily \u2014 serving as interim managers for several months after resignations \u2014 and three served the city in a more permanent, contracted capacity. <\/p>\n

Daniel Creighton, 55, a Long Beach resident for nearly 10 years, was hired as city manager<\/a> in January 2024. He was offered a new contract after a unanimous City Council vote at the July 7 council meeting. Creighton\u2019s two-year contract technically began on Jan. 3, and runs through Jan. 2, 2028.<\/p>\n

The contract marks only the second time since 2020 that the city manager\u2019s job has been held by someone hired by the City Council. Donna Gayden<\/a> was most recently chosen for the position. When she suddenly resigned in January 2023, roughly halfway through a two-year contract \u2014 preceded by an earlier agreement for just over a year \u2014 then Police Commissioner Ronald Walsh filled the gap, serving dual roles until Creighton was hired.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so impressed with the work effort that Dan Creighton has brought to this office,\u201d City Council President Brendan Finn said during Tuesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cThe amount of work he\u2019s done and the accomplishments he\u2019s made, I think, are very laudable. I think it\u2019s a contract that is well deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reviewing his work since 2024, Creighton considers the decision not to raise taxes in his first year a major win for the city and its residents. More recently, he sees the successful contract negotiations with the Long Beach Professional Firefighters Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association \u2014 which was also announced at Tuesday\u2019s meeting \u2014 as another significant victory. Creighton explained that he was hands-on in the contract development process, which resulted in the firefighters\u2019 first contract in 16 years.<\/p>\n

Increasing beach revenue by more than 10 percent in 2025 and reducing overtime in the city\u2019s service departments are more ways Creighton said he has worked to lower costs and residents\u2019 taxes while increasing overall revenue.<\/p>\n

The details and terms of Creighton\u2019s new contract came under scrutiny at the meeting, with many residents saying they considered his compensation and benefits package excessive. Creighton will receive a first-year salary of $240,000, with an increase in his second year of either 2 percent or the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers in the New York-New Jersey area, whichever is greater, up to a maximum of 5 percent.<\/p>\n

Long Beach resident Eileen Hession spoke at the meeting, after distributing a handout to City Council members which juxtaposed Creighton\u2019s salary with various officials from across the country. \u201cHe makes more than 48 out of 50 state governors,\u201d Hession said. \u201c[In] Great Neck, which has a similar population to us, the mayor makes $65,000. In Glen Cove, a similar population, he makes $100,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under a different City Council administration, Gayden\u2019s contract in 2020 included a base annual salary of $203,000 \u2014 roughly $251,000 in today\u2019s dollars, adjusted for inflation \u2014 with an additional $17,000 per year paid by the city into a 457(b) retirement plan. Finn explained that Creighton\u2019s salary is reflective of his expertise, and is justified by the results he has produced.<\/p>\n

His contract also includes lifelong health insurance, 25 vacation days, 15 sick leave days and five personal leave days. The insurance coverage for life, regardless of employment status with the city, was another point of contention raised by several residents at the meeting. Creighton\u2019s past employment with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which offers lifetime benefits to longtime workers, was brought up as a potential alternative to coverage from the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get health benefits from MTA if I go back and retire from MTA,\u201d Creighton said by way of clarification. \u201cI would have to leave, rather than stay here.\u201d He explained that the agency offers lifetime benefits for employees who reach 10 years of service, but when he resigned from his role as senior vice president and business unit leader, he was more than two years away from reaching the benchmark.<\/p>\n

Creighton said he plans to find more ways to increase city revenue at minimal cost to residents, including an examination of sanitation charges, adjustments to ease parking congestion and a specific focus on bayfront development<\/a> on the city\u2019s north side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s literally a once-in-a-generation opportunity, but it\u2019s got to be done right,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get public input. We\u2019ve got to make sure we\u2019re doing something that the public wants, but also that brings a real return to the city and keeps taxes down while helping develop the area.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the City of Long Beach were a company, the city manager would be its CEO \u2014 responsible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[27198,158446,158447,131,7188,133,132,4694,158448],"class_list":["post-394007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-city-manager","tag-daniel-creighton","tag-donna-gayden","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-city-council","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-new-york","tag-ronald-walsh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}